Kissimmee Official Fired After City's Laptop Found

News in brief

December 4, 1998

A Kissimmee city official was fired this week after an internal investigation found he violated standards of employee conduct, City Manager Mark Durbin said.

Community Development director Richard Greenwood, 51, was fired for failing to report in a timely manner the disappearance of a city-owned laptop computer that had been missing from his home for four months, Durbin said.

The computer was pawned July 6 and recovered by Greenwood Nov. 11, according to an investigation by Assistant City Manager Laura Blackmon.

Under the city's personnel rules manual, the missing computer should have been immediately reported to Greenwood's supervisor or the city manager, Durbin said.

Greenwood did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Greenwood, who was earning $66,500 annually, had been community development director since June 1996. Before that, he had been director of planning since July 1991, city records show.

``He took it upon himself to try to find the computer without notifying me or notifying the police,'' said Durbin. ``We also received a complaint from the pawnshop that he used his position with the city in an attempt to get it back. He showed a city I.D. badge, which I didn't know he had.''

The only city officials authorized to have city badges are code enforcement officials and building inspectors, Durbin said.

``At the time I authorized badges for them, he apparently ordered one for himself, which I didn't know about,'' the city manager said. ``If I had known, I would have given him a written reprimand and locked up the badge.''

Greenwood has met with Durbin twice and has no further appeal with the city, Durbin said.